Is everything REALLY better in Texas?

[Taverner]

Just like the song?

I'll admit, the CocaCola is better because they use real sugar, but the Sushi? Nope.

[LaraMN]

1. I don't know.

There are lots of things I've never tried in Texas...

:dilemma:

[Taverner]

2. They do have boots there tho....

[LaraMN]

4. Not enough opportunity to wear them, I'd think, for my taste.

Too hot.

[BikeWriter]

39. I've worn western boots year round for sixty years.

[Taverner]

59. That has to KILL

I'm sorry, I just don't get the western boots. They're not comfortable, they plain HURT. And some wear them without socks (YOWCH!)

Couldn't Dr. Scholl make a gellin' version or something?

[hedgehog]

66. Is it true the pointy toes are for schrunching the cockroaches

that get into the corners?

[BikeWriter]

76. Nope, they're for dancing the two-step down at the ice house.

[BikeWriter]

74. Western boot heels were made for riding horseback...

which I have done for tens of thousands of miles. The high tops also protect you from brush, cactus, or snakebite. A well fitted pair is comfortable. I've also been told some women prefer a man in boots. ;-)

[hedgehog]

95. As a New Yorker I'd say that someone owes it to all Texans to

figure out seperate the President from his boots since he's giving them a bad name. (the boots I mean, not Texans)

[BikeWriter]

98. Most importantly, * is not a Texan. He adopted his "down home"

demeanor after he was defeated in his first election by a real Texan. I'll see if I can find the link.

[XNASA]

3. The ice cream is better....

And so are the canned beans.

But the weather pretty much sucks.

The CocaCola you speak of is made in Mexico, so that doesn't count.

[Taverner]

7. So if I were to say, take a can of beans and eat it there

And bring one home to CA and eat it here - it would taste better in Texas?

And on the Coke note, that explains why it came in a glass bottle.

[XNASA]

17. I meant that "Texas Ranch Style Beans" are the best canned beans...

I've ever eaten.

BikeWriter explains the bit about BlueBell Ice Cream.

As for your question.....the answer is 'no'. Personally, I'd rather be eating beans in CA anyday.

[Taverner]

18. Oh I like that brand

Especially the kind of Jalepenos in them.

[Reciprocity]

27. Texas Ranch Style Beans yummo!

Camp beans
1 pound lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (15 ounces) Ranch Style Beans
1 cans (10 ounces) Ro*Tel Diced Tomatoes in Sauce


Cook ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat until beef is crumbled and no longer pink; drain.
Add beans, tomatoes and chili powder; mix well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low.
Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Makes 5 servings.

Serve over rice with a side of corn bread.

[yellowdogintexas]

84. Ranch Style (made in Fort Worth) are excellent canned beans.

They are my preference.

[BikeWriter]

8. Blue Bell® Ice Cream from the little creamery in Brenham.

http://www.bluebell.com/about_visiting.htm

[Taverner]

12. Ahhh I have heard of this blue...bell...

And of course, all the good ice cream in CA is imported from VT (Sorry, I think Dreyers sucks.)

Oh, and one more staple where CA beats TX - the 420. Ours used to be legal, so it bettah ;)

[BikeWriter]

19. You have not lived until you've had Blue Bell.

[Aristus]

30. If I'm not mistaken, Blue Bell invented the flavor "Cookies and Cream"

which just about every dairy in America offers now. But theirs is still the best. :9

[AlCzervik]

21. those little ice cream cones with the chocolate in the bottom---yummmm

when i lived in texas my daughters school went there on field trip--one of the best field trips ever.

[BikeWriter]

22. I like all the flavors, but I have a few favorites. Delicious!

[petronius]

82. I loved their frozen yogurt as well, when I was in LA

However, they lose many, many, style points with those godawful commercials...

[BikeWriter]

88. Excellent Ice Cream, though.

:-)

[Bridget Burke]

9. Well, the weather right now is pretty fine.

In Houston, it's 65 & sunny--with lowish humidity. Summer--which begins very soon & lasts very long--is a different matter.

Among the Rotating Flavors of the Month at Blue Bell Creameries:

Birthday Cake – Vanilla ice cream with pieces of chocolate cake, a chocolate icing swirl, and bright multi-colored sprinkles.

Caramel Turtle Fudge - Rich, caramel ice cream containing luscious chocolate turtles with caramel centers, pecan pieces and swirls of milk chocolate and caramel sauces.

Chocolate Almond Marshmallow - Dark chocolate ice cream and a smooth, marshmallow sauce swirled together with crisp chocolate coated almond pieces.

Cherry Vanilla - Maraschino cherry halves mixed into a smooth, creamy vanilla ice cream.

Nutty Coconut - Coconut ice cream with coconut flakes and chopped pecan pieces of almonds, pecans and walnuts.

Strawberry Cheesecake - Rich cheesecake ice cream with succulent strawberries and swirls of delicious, strawberry sundae sauce.

Tin Roof - Vanilla ice cream with a rich chocolate fudge swirl and roasted peanuts dipped in semi-bittersweet chocolate.

Triple Chocolate - A blend of Dutch Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, and Vanilla ice creams mixed with a rich chocolate sundae sauce.

www.bluebell.com/

[BikeWriter]

5. If you knew Sushi like I know Sushi...

[Taverner]

6. Silence!

There is no sushi like San Francisco sushi!

Even ask a Japanese National living in SF...our sushi is SUPERIOR!!!!

[BikeWriter]

10. I am not a Japanese National, but I have had excellent Texas Sushi.

[Taverner]

13. How fresh was the salmon?

How fresh was the tuna?

Chances are, if you go to a good sushi spot in the city, the fish was swimming around that morning.

You just can't beat that!

[BikeWriter]

16. Much of our seafood comes from our Gulf of Texas...

Not the Salmon, of course.

[petronius]

85. Gulf of WHAT?

:rofl:

That little pond is nothing compared to the California Ocean...

(Unrelated to the thread, but on the topic of renaming things for local pride, I once saw a map made by the Chilean government that had a triangle extending from the southern tip of Chile, out to Easter Island, and back to the northern tip of Chile, and the whole area was labeled 'Sea of Chile'.)

[BikeWriter]

87. Yes, Gulf of Texas! Oh, and Sea of Chili? I made one last Saturday!

:rofl:

[Misunderestimator]

11. I had some fantastic sushi in San Antonio... at Sushi Zushi

Very inventive rolls there. Yummmmm.

[Taverner]

14. ANYONE can do inventive rolls

However fish so fresh that it swims away from your chopsticks is something altogether different.

[Misunderestimator]

15. These are very special rolls... And I love sushi...

and hate Texas... so I'm totally unbiased about that part.

[Bridget Burke]

34. California Sushi is not always the freshest.

Shortly after eating Sushi in LA's Little Tokyo I learned what happens When Sushi Goes Bad!

Quite a bit of sushi served anywhere comes from seafood that's been frozen. If this is done well, the results can be excellent.

[Fleshdancer]

20. There's a place in Austin that has the best saba ever

I've lived in Tokyo so I consider myself qualified to make this statement. :D

[ceile]

57. oohhhh, where?!

[Fleshdancer]

79. Musashino in North Austin

http://www.musashinosushi.com/

Their pieces are big too. The owner flies the mackerel in from Norway where (according to the him) the mackeral is "fattier" than anywhere else. :shrug:

Damn. Now I'm craving sushi.

[Orsino]

23. Impeachment is better in DC.

However, it would have been even better in Texas back in, say, '97.

[Fleshdancer]

24. BEST post of the day award!

:rofl:

GREAT answer Orsino!

[Taverner]

58. Or say, a convenient driving accident

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

[hedgehog]

25. They have the best Chutzpah I ever saw

I came home from a business trip to San Antonio and described the Riverwalk to my son and had him rolling on the floor laughing. Sorry San Antonio, but up in Central New York, we call that a creek. More to the point, I think your Riverwalk is a flood control canal. Nice landscaping though, and congratulations on getting all those people with too much money in their pockets to come to town and pay to look at it! Way to go!

[Fleshdancer]

28. of course it's flood control, but it's still beautiful and fun to visit!

[Bridget Burke]

35. The River Walk was built around a natural Bend in the San Antonio River.

After floods early last century, the City wanted to remove the Bend. However, the San Antonio Conservation Society stepped in. (That group has saved much that makes San Antonio historically interesting & charming.) Scenic improvements along the Bend were planned & most of the work was done by the WPA. The River Walk continues to grow.

www.saconservation.org/about/

Admission to the River Walk is free. Of course, it's lined with restaurants, bars, galleries & shops that will gladly take your money.

Don't compare the River Walk to Central Park. Compare it to what can be found in other Texas Cities.

[hedgehog]

36. I wasn't comparing it to Central Park

Central New York - about 300 miles to the north west. I think the Riverwalk is charming. It's just that where I'm from, we call something that size a creek.

[ForrestGump]

38. And out here in the West, we call something the size of New York state

a county.

[hedgehog]

47. What can I say?

They took the best part of the country, called it New York State, and left the rest for the other lower 48 to divide amongst themselves.

[ForrestGump]

49. Damn Yankees

:P

[hedgehog]

65. Now you're talking about Connecticut

Yankees are from Connecticut, New Yorkers are New Yorkers

[ForrestGump]

67. I thought they were New Yawkers

And what the hell is a Connecticut dweller? Connectinese? Connecticutters? It's all very confusing.

[hedgehog]

72. Like I said, Yankees are people from Connecticut

New Yawkers are from THE CITY, New Yorkers are from Upstate which is anywhere outside THE CITY

except for Buffalonians

[ForrestGump]

73. All sounds like Buffaloney to me

And everyone knows that The City is San Francisco.

It seems too impolite, too, to call them CT-living people 'Yankees.' They may not all be that bad.

Henceforth I shall call them Connecti-cuties.

[hedgehog]

94. Nope, I checked with my sister in Albany

When her friends from NYC go home for the week-end, they always say they're going to THE CITY, so that must be the place.

[ForrestGump]

96. Albanians, right?

I'm still trying to figure out where 'Michigander' came from. Are the female versions 'Michigeese'?

[Bridget Burke]

40. OK--"Central New York"....

Are you comparing a developed, urban section of The San Antonio River to the Hudson? NO Texas River can compare with the mighty Hudson. And all our lakes are artificial--except for the alligator infested Caddo Lake.

But "...where I'm from, we call something that size a..." sounds like a cliched "Texas Brag."

[hedgehog]

45. The Hudson, the Oswego, the Niagara, the Seneca, the Buffalo....

the Mohawk..they're all fair sized rivers, this is very generous country as far as water goes. Most New Yorkers have no idea how beautiful this state really is. I was just poking fun at the size of the loop in the San Antonio Riverwalk. I think a lot of Upstate cities would be a lot better off today if they had half the civic pride that San Antonio so obviously has.

[Bridget Burke]

104. I first saw New York State as a child & was struck by its beauty.

Much of Texas is FLAT. (I was brought up on the Coastal prairie.) I'm sure some would look at our Hill Country & say "you call those hills?"--but the area IS hillier than most of the state. Out west, the Davis Mountains & Big Bend have some respectable mountains--but they are parched dry, lacking the forest-clad granite majesty of the East.

San Antonio is where most Texans go for vacation when we can't get out of the state. It's older than other Texas cities (except El Paso--which is Way Out West) & the ladies of the Conservation Society were ferocious about protecting the good bits.

NYC is a wonderful city. But--once the weather allows--kick some of those folks Upstate for a visit. They might be surprised.

[yellowdogintexas]

86. "Don't you make fun of our river", said my mother in law

because she had visited us in Indiana...we lived 5 minutes from the Ohio River.

And I had lived in Nashville, too and of course Mom grew up in Alabama and follwed her Marine husband all over the country so she knew the difference between a river, creek, a stream and a branch.

The Trinity is just funny, but at least it doesn't flood Fort Worth like it does Dallas

[Reciprocity]

43. What's so funny, I fail to see the humor?

San Antonio is located in the temperate grasslands not deciduous forest like New York. Your not going to find rivers the size of the Amazon here.

[texas1928]

46. San Antonio should be applauded for the rebuilding they have done...

My parents lived in San Antonio in the late 60's and my dad used to have to go to the bank downtown after dark and as he put it you did not go alone and you did not loiter in doing what you needed too.

[amitten]

100. Oh, come on. People from all over the country know about the

Riverwalk. Many cities have actually tried desperately to replicate it. There are plenty of things to insult when it comes to Texas--but the Riverwalk isn't one of them.

[In_The_Wind]

26. I haven't tried anything in Texas.

:shrug:

[kwassa]

29. The very best crazed right wing fundamentalists anywhere.

[BikeWriter]

37. We dominated the Democratic party for a number of years, too...

Come to think of it, we seem to outnumber most states on DU.

[Bucky]

51. Maybe we outnumber most states on DU because we need the oxygen more.

I doubt the fact that Texas is the second largest state in the country has anything at all to do with the fact that Texans are the second largest group on DU.

:eyes:

[Taverner]

60. The reason there are so many Texans on DU

Is because they are in the minority at home, and are thus FIRED UP.

We in California are lazy, pure and simple.

[BikeWriter]

77. I know a number of California Democrats I admire. ;-)

[Reciprocity]

69. Damn straight. I live in the bible belt.

If it weren't for the good folks here, I would have no one who I can talk too. The Texas bashing and baiting get old fast though.

[BikeWriter]

80. Despite two large cities we are nowhere near densely populated.

[Taverner]

61. Sadly, we have them here in CA too

The damage assesment from Orange County isn't in yet, but many horrible things have come from there...Laffer Curve anyone?

[flamingyouth]

31. They use real sugar in the Dr. Pepper too

:9

Man, that is good.

[begin_within]

But only at one bottling plant, in Waco, right? The "Dr. Pepper museum?"

[texas1928]

70. Nope, there is a bottling plant in Dublin, TX.

They only use pure cane sugar. We get a case or two everytime we go see my wife's grandmother.

[Taverner]

71. Aha! So it's NOT from Mexico then!

I knew Mexican coke couldn't be in every single fountain in Houston and Austin!

[begin_within]

91. I was going to order some of that Dublin Dr. Pepper - is it worth it?

[flamingyouth]

75. You can also buy it at a Shell station just off 290

We picked some up driving from Houston to Austin.

[liontamer]

32. i thought things were supposed to be BIGGER in texas eom

[Bucky]

52. No comment.

but it's true

[texas1928]

33. Well see in Texas...

We don't eat bait.

[Taverner]

53. Ahhhh you have yet to taste raw salmon

Trust me, friend, raw salmon is perhaps the greatest thing in the world, if served fresh.

Take the absolute best BBQ you've ever had, be it brisket or ribs, and think of the fish equivalent. That is sake.

[texas1928]

62. It is bait.

I do not eat raw fish.

And I never will.

[Taverner]

63. Try it, you'll like it

Trust me on that one - fish was meant to be eaten raw!

[texas1928]

64. No it was not.

bread it in cornmeal and fry it. I will be happy then.

[SOteric]

41. Not according to many of the New Yorkers I know.

[martymar64]

42. Best BBQ Orgy

Brunch at the Salt Lick

[Taverner]

55. Yes, I will testify on behalf of Salt Lick

Pretty fucking awesome.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

44. Not if you're a brown person with...

a missing tail light.

[Bucky]

48. That's a bigger problem in LA or the Northeast than here, my friends say.

People I know who've lived in Los Angeles and in the New York-New Jersey area say the cops are much worse in those places than Houston. Of course these are probably minor differences, or based on random personal experiences--not statistically based. But the prejudice "Hell Hath" just showed is one reason why Houston's cops are constantly subjected to sensitivity training and community liaisons and the like.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

50. My sister has lived in Texas for 15 years....

and that is her experience there. :shrug:

[Bucky]

54. There's LOADS of places where DWB is a serious offense, punishable by...

....well, you know how the worst case scenarios go.

[Taverner]

56. Cops citing people for DWB is a problem everywhere

Even in Oakland and Berkeley...

[BikeWriter]

78. A large percentage of Houston Police are minorities.

[AussieDave]

68. Not since I left in 1967

no, really.......


:rofl:

[Skittles]

81. the sunsets are better

that's the ONLY thing I can think of and I have been here 30 years

[yellowdogintexas]

90. oh the sunsets are just amazing here. I really need to start

carrying a camera at all times just to get the pretty sunset shots when I am stuck in traffic.

I never get tired of them.

[hedgehog]

92. Oh, now I must protest!

Everyone knows the best sunsets are to be seen from Oswego, New York looking out over Lake Ontario!

[yellowdogintexas]

83. we don't use real sugar: we just have lots of Mexican markets

which sell Mexican Coke which uses real sugar.

The Mexican food is good though.

The DR PEPPER from Dublin TX uses real sugar. But that is not Coke, even though as a Southerner I tend to call all soft drinks Coke from sheer forcc of habit.

The true sugar Coca Cola is made in Mexico, and sold at Mexican markets all over Texas and at Central Market

[yellowdogintexas]

89. the wildflowers: esp the Official State Flower: see below

[hedgehog]

93. See, more Texas chutzpa

People in other places call wild flowers "weeds". I say bravo to the Texans for appreciating what Nature gave us instead of trying to turn every landscape into an imitation of an English lawn. New York State is just getting around to planting crown vetch, rudebeckia daisies and poppies in its medians.

[yellowdogintexas]

97. Thank LadyBird Johnson! She began the crusade to save

America's wildflowers, Texas's in particular.

I read the other day that several millions of bluebonnet seeds are sewn into the roadways and byways and medians etc every year!

They take two years to bloom from seed...

[amitten]

101. No they don't. People in other places call wildflowers just that.

I know because I've lived in many states besides Texas. AND New York!

[mykpart]

99. The problem with the real sugar

in Dr Pepper is that it comes from Tom DeLay's congressional district! Imperial Sugar, Sugarland, TX.

However, Dr. Pepper started in Texas, as did Fritos, 7-11 and Neiman-Marcus. And Texas produced Molly Ivins and Ann Richards.

But, is everything better in Texas? That depends. Better than WHAT?

[Bridget Burke]

103. Sugar was grown in Sugarland long before DeLay's time...

Originally, slaves harvested the cane along the Brazos bottom. Then convicts took over the job. (Leadbelly did, for a while.) Now There Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos (old folk song)--but the company's still there.

[XemaSab]

102. As far as birding goes

I have to say yes, yes it is.

[bmbmd]

105. Most days

things are pretty nice at my house. I left Texas for a while in my youth; I won't make that mistake again.